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4. AI and scientific integrity

How to cite an AI?

 

AI cannot be listed as a co-author in a scientific article.

For example, here’s what the review Nature says about it:

« Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria. Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs.  Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript. The use of an LLM (or other AI-tool) for “AI assisted copy editing” purposes does not need to be declared. In this context, we define the term "AI assisted copy editing" as AI-assisted improvements to human-generated texts for readability and style, and to ensure that the texts are free of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and tone. These AI-assisted improvements may include wording and formatting changes to the texts, but do not include generative editorial work and autonomous content creation. In all cases, there must be human accountability for the final version of the text and agreement from the authors that the edits reflect their original work. »

Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Nature Portfolio. [read on the 06/03/2025].

 

👉 Ask your teachers to know if you are allowed to use AI. To be transparent, you can cite its use, following the same bibliographic style you would use for the rest of the document (in the methodology section, the text, the footnotes, the bibliography).

For example, you can reference in an appended table all the times you have used AI, listing all the prompts and re-specifying which parts of the document are concerned. As GAIs (generative AIs) don't offer a permanent link, you can be more transparent by copying the results of the conversations. On the other hand, if you've used a prompt and someone prompts an AI again identically, they will get an answer that isn't strictly identical. In short, the results of a prompt are not reproducible, because GAIs are designed to generate original content.

👉Here is a list of recommendations to cite AI use:

  • Université de Lorraine, Université de Strasbourg, Université de Haute Alsace, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, & GTFU Alsace. (2024). L'intelligence artificielle et le bibliothécaire. Zenodo. [accessed on February 19, 2025].

AI and plagiarism

An AI produces original content but it builds its responses using content produced by a third party. This means you are not immune to plagiarism when using GAI. The best way to avoid this is to cite your sources.

Lyon 1 University used Compilatio Magister +, a software capable of detecting content similar to other sources, as well as AI-generated content. Here's what the company that developed it has to say about it:

-Does the Compilatio AI detector adapts to updates in AI? Yes, the detector is regularly updated.

-Does Compilatio Magister+ prove the use of generative AI? The detector hilights "supsicious" sections, potentially written by AI.

-How reliable is Compilation AI detector?

  • Accuracy (=the detector's ability to make mistakes) is estimated at 98.5%: out of 100 passages identified as written by an AI, between 98 and 99 are indeed so, and the remainder have been written by humans.
  • The detector's recall (=its ability not to forget any passages written by AI) is 99%: out of 100 portions of text written by AI, only one was not found.
  • Its accuracy (= its ability to correctly identify portions of text written by humans or by AI) is 99%: out of 100 portions of text, 99 were correctly identified.

 

💡 Did you know? In the absence of a unanimous position from national authorities, some French and foreign universities have taken a stand on the use of generative AI. That is the case of the Universities of Orleans, Geneva and Sherbrooke.

AI and personal data

At the risk of losing control of your intellectual property, it is best not to provide personal data to AI, which will use it for training purposes. It is preferable to transmit only data from the public domain. This is what the University of Orleans recommends in its AI-charter.

💡 Did you know? Europe adopted a text regulating the use and circulation of AIs. It's called the EU AI Act. It came into effect in August 2024. Its aim is to “provide a framework for the development, placing on the market and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which may pose risks to health, safety or fundamental rights”, according to the CNIL. [accessed on March 11, 2025]. 

The AI Act applies to companies with their headquartes in the EU and any company marketing its system in the EU. 

🏆Try the AI Act Game, by Thomas le Goff (maître de conférences (lecturer) in digital law and regulations) et get familiar with it.



 
 
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